The Rate Thermometer is rising

Editorial Slowly but surely, economic indicators are deteriorating, suggesting that recession is looming. The latest PMI surveys in the Eurozone have just borne this out. Central banks are trying to find a trade-off between growth and inflation in a geopolitical environment that is difficult to decipher and even more difficult to anticipate. Sources of concern are mounting: energy and food prices, climate change, Russia-Ukraine conflict, political crisis in Italy, etc., with no prospect of improvement in the short term. The summer will be hot on all fronts, and not just the heat waves.